As Downtown Los Angeles advocacy group Central City Association (CCA) celebrates its 99th anniversary this year, the nonprofit's progress through solutions-oriented advocacy hasn’t slowed down.

Development downtown has taken off, and CCA has been advocating for increased housing capacity, as several state bills have passed to accelerate and simplify residential developments across California. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 10 in 2021, establishing streamlined processes for cities to zone for multi-unit housing, as well as awarded Los Angeles $196 million for multifamily and infill development last week.

With a number of high-rise residences in development downtown, including Brookfield’s 57-story Beaudry Tower on Seventh Street, DTLA is already priming itself for a boom in residential real estate, with 4,500 units of housing under construction and more than 30,000 units proposed across downtown, CCA found.

Among the organization’s priorities are comprehensively addressing homelessness and increasing public safety and wellness, both of which are missions shared by Mayor Karen Bass, with whom CCA is building a working relationship, according to CCA President and CEO Nella McOsker.

McOsker, who stepped into the role as CCA's latest president and CEO last month, spoke to L.A. Business First about DTLA’s present and future, and how CCA fits into both.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

How are downtown L.A. businesses adapting to changes in the city, and how does CCA play a role?

DTLA, Los Angeles and the nation have experienced many changes over the last few years as we collectively weathered the pandemic and suffered its impacts. While thriving economic centers like downtown, the city’s mobility hub and civic center, will always need office space, companies are still adjusting to post-pandemic life. There may be opportunities to look at using some existing office and retail spaces for more flexible, future-forward uses like housing or community spaces.

At the same time, we continue to see that there’s so much pent-up demand and people who are craving opportunities to connect, so businesses are continuing to react to those trends. At CCA, our work is to be the bridge between DTLA businesses and our elected leaders so that we can share concerns and create solutions together.

CCA continues to advocate for policies like a permanent al fresco outdoor dining program, public safety resources such as Crisis and Incident Response through Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE) crisis response, the modernization of the L.A. Convention Center, the DTLA 2040 community plan update and so much more to make downtown the most welcoming place to be for residents, workers and visitors.

What are the central issues CCA is focused on right now?

CCA is mission-focused on enhancing downtown Los Angeles’ vibrancy and increasing opportunity in the region. This year, we’re continuing our work in five key areas: homelessness solutions, housing acceleration, increasing public safety, advancing local governance reform and reviving downtown as a thriving economic center.

We recently outlined our priorities and some recommendations in an open letter to our elected leaders. CCA sees these priorities as critical, interconnected issues for downtown’s recovery from the pandemic and will be working closely with our elected leaders and government partners to help realize progress on these shared priorities.

What has fueled DTLA’s bounce-back the most since the pandemic?

Downtown’s liveliness and energy. There is so much going on, from Jose Andres’ new restaurants San Laurel and Agua Viva opening at The Grand to cuisine from around the world at Grand Central Market, great concerts at The Orpheum on Broadway, and the Lakers and Kings playing at Crypto.com Arena. There really is something for everyone here.

We’re also seeing strong demand for downtown living. Occupancy and rental rates are above pre-pandemic levels. New housing units that have come online in the last few years leased up quickly, showing the high demand for an urban, walkable lifestyle. We’ll see new developments near completion like Brookfield’s Beaudry Tower and Mitsui Fudosan’s 8th & Figueroa.

What infrastructure investments are you most looking forward to this year, and how will they reshape downtown?

CCA is looking forward to continued progress on Metro’s rail system. The Regional Connector is set to open soon, and development proposals continue for the proposed Red Line extension to the Arts District as well as Aerial Rapid Transit to Dodgers Stadium. These projects are going to make DTLA truly multimodal. We’re going to have a transportation network that’s competitive with other world-class cities.

As downtown’s entertainment industry gains more traction with more studios popping up in the Arts District, how do you expect the fabric and economy of the city to be affected in the next five years?

It’s really exciting that people are taking notice of downtown’s creative energy more broadly. We’re seeing the Arts District as the new frontier for studio development. Three major studio developments have been proposed: ADLA Campus by East End Studios, Alameda Crossing by Prologis and the Former L.A. Times Printing Plant by Atlas Capital.

These developments will have dozens of soundstages, creative office and production support spaces which will be bringing thousands of jobs to the area. In the future, we’re going to see even more interest in downtown’s neighborhoods for people who want to live close to their jobs and spend time in communities where it’s all about art, creativity and expression.

What are you looking forward to most in downtown L.A. in 2023?

With new leadership in L.A. City Hall and so many exciting attractions and developments continuing to come online in downtown, we are in a real moment of opportunity. CCA is seizing on this moment by building relationships with our new elected leaders and finding opportunities for partnership.

We will keep driving our advocacy agenda forward, especially as we set the vision for the future of downtown. We hope to see DTLA 2040, downtown’s Community Plan update, be adopted this year which will set the vision for downtown development for the next two decades. This will certainly be another year of opportunities and challenges in downtown, but we’re ready to meet them head-on.